10 Aug 08

Finally, my first time where I get to truly escape the yearly brainwashing event back at home. Not hearing aunties ‘WOAH!’-ing at fireworks (c’mon, how many times have they seen them already?) is a breath of fresh air. And literally so too. Paris’s tranquil Sunday morning atmosphere was great.

There’s just one slight problem with Sundays in Europe. Knowing that everything would be bloody fermé, the next best thing to do is to visit a gi-normous muesum on a full day trip - Chateau de Versailles.

Getting there wasn’t so easy. The RER (airgh-uh-airgh - urgh!) was undergoing some maintenance and it had to divert a lot of the routes. The trip took 1 hr longer than usual and our out-of-bed early strategy did not pay off today. We arrived at Marie Antoinette’s house close to 11am.

Le Chateau de Versailles

Remember the Hungarian dude we spoke to yesterday? He recommends NOT going to the main Chateau but to head straight for the gardens. Most royal residences in Europe look the same to my uncultured eyes. Perhaps I’m only drawn to the contemporary.

Question: How many gardeners?

He was spot on, the garden is fantastic and painstakingly pruned plants and trees is really a pleasure to see and experience. With classical music playing in the back ground, it really creates movie-like moments when royalties will walk into the same gardens with the background music playing from somewhere. I had a random off-beat thought though - wouldn’t it be hilarious if they played trance music instead? I wonder what the plants should look like. Random thoughts aside, there are also quirky and naughty things around.

What’s this?

By the end of the second hour, while I have not completed my visit to the whole compound, I’m quite sure I’m done with the place. But who knew Marie Antoinette had her own residence, and even cave (she’s a cave woman)? It started to rain, we had to walk 3km in the rain and were tempted to pay some cash to jump into the shuttle service to pop by Marie’s place. I decided against the idea in the spur of the moment when I realised the vehicle looks like a big garbage truck that is towing other huge dustbins around. People were truly happy sitting n it though.

Where is the cake shop?

I didn’t understand why there wasn’t a cake shop inside the house. It would have made it so much funnier.

More gardens ensue after visiting her residence, but not ending our curious visit to a promise of a spectacular show. We were ushered to a seating area where we would be greated by a spectacular musical fountain show with the expansive garden as a backdrop. Alright…. it started fashionably late and finally, the Prelude started. Water started to spray out of huge water vases. Music began to play. I was anticipating a climax when the music begin to die down a little. But it went on to die competely and we were told that was the end of the show. “Underwhelming“  - LG thought. I thought it’s hilarious that it’s so anticlimatic. Loved it.

THE “Musical Fountain Show” = Music + Fountain

I was ready to see something more avant-garde in the evening after a full-day of history and botany lessons. Next stop is to be Palais de Tokio where the brochure promised “modern and futurist art”. It certainly showed me something I didn’t expect. We saw skateboarders and what seems like a local gang hideout. Ironic, but I was amused.

If anything, Japanese quirkiness was showcased.